Sash-balance



(No Model.)

J. M.- SMELSER. SASH BALANCE.-

UNITED STATES PAT NT QFFICE,

JAMES M. SMELSER, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA.

SASH-BALANCE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,650, dated December 3, 1895. Application filed February 18,1895. Serial No. 538,789. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern: 7

Be it known that 1, JAMES M. SMELSER, of Richmond, Vayne county, Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sash-Balances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention pertains to spring sash-balances of the kind set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 488,294, granted to me December 20, 1892, and relates to improvements as will beunderstood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a window provided with my improved duplex sash-balance, a portion of the casing-head of the window being broken away to exhibit the balancing mechanism; Fig. 2, a perspective view of the duplex balance mechanism; Fig. 3, a plan of the same, the right-hand member of the duplex mechanism appearing in horizontal section; Fig. 4;, a perspective View of the frame of the balancing device, and Fig. 5 a perspective view of one of the swivel-pulleys.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the windowcasing; 2, the upper sash 3, the lower sash; 4, the casing-head of the window; 5, the head of the window-frame 6, cords going up from the sash at each side, as usual, but continuing on upwardly instead of turning inwardly through the window-frame; 7, pulleys mount ed on the window-head to receive the sashcords and permit them to turn horizontally over the window-head, there being four of these pulleys, one for each cord of each sash; 8, the duplex springbalancing mechanism mounted on the window head behind the head-casing; 9, a pair of housings mounted on the window-head parallel with each other, each housing containing a pair of parallel bearings; 10, a pair of spindles mounted to turn in the housings, the front end of these spindles being squared to receive a windingkey; 11, the disk fast on each spindle; 12, a spring-box removably secured to each disk, a box and disk together forming a spring-barrel fast on its spindle; 13, a spiral-spring coil within each spring-barrel and having its outer end attached to the barrel; 14, a ratchet-wheel fast near the front end of each spindle; 15, a spring pawl for each ratchet wheel, these pawls being pivoted to the front housing; 16,

v a spring connected to the two pawls and hold in g them into engagement with their ratchet- Wheels; 17, beveled lips formed upon the pawls and lying near the squared ends of the spindles and normally obstructing the full engagementof the winding-key with the spindles, but adapted to be pushed aside when the winding-key is forcibly applied to the spindle,

the applying of the winding-key to the spindle thus serving to push the pawl aside and release the ratchet-wheel; 18, a double fusee loose upon, each spindle alongside its springbarrel, the fusees having hubs projecting into the spring-barrels and engaging the inner ends of the springs, the left-hand spring-barrel, the onefor the lower sash, being set to the rear of the plane of the other spring-barrel, and the left-hand fusee, being in front of its spring-barrel, while the righthand fusee is set to the rear; 19, a clamp-bar extending across from housing to housing; 20, a bolt passing down througha slot in the clampbar and through a hole in the window-head and serving to clamp the duplex balancing device to the window-head; 21, a cord pertaining to the lower sash and coming from the pulley 7 pertaining to the left-hand edge of that sash and wound upon one of the members of the left-hand fusee, the cord, when it reaches the major diameter of the fusee, entering a hole in the rim thereof and crossing the fusee, continuing on out of an opposite hole in the rim and being wound upon the other member of that fusee, and then passing off tangentially to the right to the right-hand pulley pertaining to the lower sash, and then down to that sash; 22, the rightward exten- I sion of the cord just referred to; 23, a tubular shank for each pulley 7, seating loosely in a vertical hole in the window-head over the upcoming sash-cord, which is to engage the pulley, so that the cord may pass cene trally through the shank on its way up to the pulley; 24, the housing of the pulley attached to the shank and supporting the pulley in such position that the axis of the tubular shank is tangent to the pulley, the entire pulley structure being free to swivel in the hole in the window-head; 25, the cord for the upper sash, coming up from the left-hand edge of that sash and then turning over its left hand swivel-pulley and going to and 1 through the right-hand fusee; 26, the conameter of the fusee.

tinuation of this cord from the fusee to the right-hand swivel-pulley of the upper sash and then down to the sash; and 27 the holes in the rims of the fusees through which the cords pass in crossing the fusees.

In Fig. 2 it will be observed that the cords are unwound from the fusees representing the down position of the sashes. The holes 27 have their margins rounded, so that the cords are at liberty to slip in the fusees, thus permitting the strain of the two cord portions from the fusee to become equalized. WVith the device in this condition the sashes are down and the springs are under maximum tension. The springs tend to wind the cords up upon the fusees and the tension of thesprings is to have been adjusted to properly counterbalance the weight of the sashes. If a sash be raised, its cord will be yielded inwardly in two directions to its fusee, the strain of the spring winding up the cord portions and balancing the sash. The decreasing tension of the spring as it unwinds is compensated for by the reduced winding di- As the sash is lowered, the tension of the spring increases and the winding diameter increases in a compensating degree. The spindles are held from turning by the pawls under the control of the sin gle pawl-spring 16. When a key is applied to turn a spindle to adjust the tension of a spring, then the presentation of the key disengages the proper pawl, which automatically re-engages when the key is withdrawn.

The balancing device is clamped to the window-head by a single bolt, and the slotted clam permits the transverse adjustment of the balancing device upon the window-head to bring the fusees in the most favorable position for receiving the cords. The clamp unites the two housings. As the cords wind upon the fusees, they shift transversely. The swiveling of the pulleys compensates for this and maintains a fair presentation of the cords to the pulleys and prevents chafing of the cords due to the transverse movements of the cords at the fusees.

I claim as my invention 1. In a sash balance, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a frame, a spindle mounted therein, a ratchet-wheel fast on the spindle, a pawl mounted on the frame and engaging the ratchet-wheel and locking the spindle against rotation in the frame, a double fusee loose on the spindle, and a spring with one end connected fast with the spindle and the other end fast to the fusee.

2. In a sash balance, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a frame, a spindle mounted therein and squared for a key, a fusee and spring carried by the spindle, a ratchet wheel on the spindle, and a pivoted spring pawl engaging the rachet wheel and having a bevel lip in position to be engaged and shifted as a winding key is placed upon the squared portion of the spindle.

3. In a sash balance, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a frame, a pair of parallel spindles mounted therein, fusees and springs carried by the spindles, a ratchet wheel on each spindle, a pair of pivoted spring pawls mounted on the frame and engaging each a ratchet wheel, and a spring extending between the pawls and urging them toward each other and into engagement with their ratchet wheels.

4. In a sash balance, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a frame, a pair of parallel spindles mounted therein, a spring barrel and spring upon one of said spindles, a double fusee mounted to the rear of said spring barrel on the same spindle, a double fusee mounted on the second spindle forward of the plane of the first fusee, and a spring and spring barrel mounted on the second spindle to the rear of its fusee.

5. In a sash balance, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a pair of housings, a spindle mounted therein, a spring, spring barrel, and double fusee mounted on the spindle, and a slotted clamp bar extending across from housing to housing.

6. In a sash balance, the combination, substantially as set forth, of a spindle, a fusee and spring mounted thereon, and pulleys having vertical tubular shanks forming swivels whose axes are tangent to the pulleys.

JAMES M. SMELSER.

Witnesses:

CHRISTIAN FETTA, WALTER J. DOAN. 

